With regard to the ACTA (so-called Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement) accepted by European Union, we feel obliged to warn you that our website may be unavailable in some countries soon.

ACTA Agreement was initiated by organizations describing themselves as "defending artists from bad pirates" and has been enforced on EU in secret negotiations initiated by US Government. Non government
organizations from all over the world agreed on condemning both the way of negotiations ware taken and allowing by this agreement cutting off websites "uncomfortable" for governments of countries that
signed ACTA, without proving infringements of any laws.

Dagorath, why don't you redo your avatar and put a pirate hat on ole bushie there, he already got the crossbones, you are half way there.

That is what is worrying people about this stupid law, is that they don't need a reason really, just someone to say shut it down.

Let's say there is 'illegal' activity going on on the server that this site is hosted on. The owners of this site have no clue it is happening, they are not involved, have nothing to do with it. The govt will come in and shut the entire thing down, not just that site, but also this site, all of it. Now this site which wasn't breaking the law gets hurt out of the deal too.

You are talking about politicians / people with big money buying them / power grabs and greed. Need I say more? Look how they warped the Patriot Act and how they are abusing it today. Do you really think with the track record governments have, they would not do the same thing with this law, stretch it, twist it, abuse it in their efforts to abuse you?

Some clown will put on their tinfoil hat, say this site is a national security risk or something totally stupid, play the 'technology export' game, and shut it down or they will search the terabyte drive it's hosted on, find an .mp3 that someone e mailed someone else two years ago, say it's illegal file sharing cost the artist 100 million dollars and go that way.

I know you and I have differing political views but both of us have to admit that when it comes to evil deeds such as this, BOTH sides are in bed with each other on doing this type of thing.

Also, Krzysztof you claim that this law was done in secret and is being enforced in the EU. We are not seeing too much news about this in the US really. Can you please link a source of your information. I would like to post it in a few places here.

We are not seeing too much news about this in the US really. Can you please link a source of your information.
thank you
Aaron

ACTA was passed in the US during the Bush administration along with a lot of other Nazi inspired legislation. Remember Yuri Geller who used to bend spoons with his mind? They proved he was a fraud on some TV show and the video of that event was available on YouTube until Geller used ACTA to get the video removed from YouTube. It was not a matter of the TV network claiming copyright infringement, it was an action launched by Geller himself because he was angry over being proven a fake.

Now there is legislation even more draconian than ACTA being debated in Washington and it's all over the blogs coming out of the US. There is a new anti-piracy bill being debated in the US Senate and a similar bill being debated in the House. Obama has said he'll veto both of them if they pass. Obama is your friend.

So there ya go... vote repuglican and the new legislation is as good as passed and then the Internet will be toast. Vote democrat and the situation will stay what it is now and you can work on Obama to repeal ACTA and replace it with something decent.

Dagorath, it's not that simple.
Obama is nobody's friend really. He says one thing one minute, the next turns around and does something different. He's no different than GWB or any other politician to be honest. For what it's worth, the two front runners for the repubs are no better.

The thing you have to realize is that they all huff and puff on the national stage for us little people to pick sides and fight, but behind their closed doors they are doing their dope deals with each other and WE the People lose out in the end. They are all in bed together. They all crave power over us, and when they say they are doing something 'for your own good' be afraid, be VERY afraid, nefarious deeds are in the making.

It is kind of like the WWF wrestling, they 'hate' each other on the camera but as soon as it stops rolling, they laugh, and go out together for a beer. Politicians are the same way.

Fortunately Anonymous took down a few of the US websites (good for them!!) and these morons got a real wake up call and decided to 'rethink' this act.

What that really means is that they tried to parade it for notoriety and it bit them in the ass. This time they will be sneaky about it and try to slide it in somewhere hoping not too many people are paying attention when they do. It appears the Europeans were a bit smarter and took this route the first time. Nobody ever accused American politicians of being intelligent.... just breathing. (except for dead kennedy heh)

As I said before, politicians R or D, both are filthy crooked and you can trust neither.

A petition.
"To all Members of the EU Parliament:
As concerned global citizens, we call on you to stand for a free and open Internet and reject the ratification of the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA), which would destroy it. The Internet is a crucial tool for people around the world to exchange ideas and promote democracy. We urge you to show true global leadership and protect our rights."

As concerned global citizens, we call on you to stand for a free and open Internet and reject the ratification of the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA), which would destroy it. The Internet is a crucial tool for people around the world to exchange ideas and promote democracy. We urge you to show true global leadership and protect our rights.

Doesn't say you have to be from Europe, just gotta be from Earth. No ETs allowed.

An interesting decision today from the Supreme Court of Canada . The ruling effectively pushes back attempts by artists to force ISPs to censor Internet users by ruling that ISPs are not responsible for what their customers broadcast/publish on the Internet and are not subject to the Canadian Broadcast Act. The decision was based on the fact that ISPs are merely a conduit and do not take active part in deciding what to broadcast/publish.

So much for the uninformed notion that Canadians are a bunch of big government leftists and liberals. This decision clearly keeps the Canadian Government from intruding into the Internet via the Canadian Broadcast Act and establishes a sane laissez-faire definition of what ISPs are not responsible for in Canada. People south of Canada wishing to be governed in the same sane way should dissolve their own governments and petition Her Majesty's Canadian Government to annex their lands and provide governance. Canada would probably not grant the region status as a Province of Canada but would designate the area as something like "The Southern Territories".
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